And Take The Hidden Paths That Run
by Cringe
Summary: A jutsu has unforseen consequences and Sasuke finds himself with a conscience who won't mind it's own business. "Teme, I expected to pull the Snake bastard out, but I never thought I’d pull myself in." Sasuke-centric, Naruto-centric, Time-travel, No Pairi
1. Unforeseen Consequences

Disclaimer: Naruto and all things associated with series do not belong to me.

AN: Not new to the fandom, but my first time writing Naruto fanfiction. A note, this fanfic is subject to change. I tend to go back to old pieces and edit after they've sat for a bit. Apologies, as this may be a little disjointed :)

Un-betaed

-----

He remembers screaming, shouting, and anger. Prisoner in his own mind, couldn't move, couldn't speak, could only hear the sounds of the dying village, and feel the splash of vibrant red on his pale hands. Hear the sound of his own voice laughing as his best friend's pale angry eyes bleed red, and this…usurper of his body laugh as life-sustaining fluid drips and gushes from the hole in the leaf ninja's chest.

And that's where things grow blurry and confused.

He remembers a bloody fanged grin, seals, and _pain_, the Snake Sannin screaming until it's suddenly _his_ voice that's screaming, _his_ body that's in pain.

A sudden sensation of being emptied and then _filled_ until he could burst and then…nothing.

He laughs to himself quietly. After the nothing, he wakes up, and he can't see, can't hear; he can feel _nothing_ but pain.

Sometimes as he lies there – at least…he thinks he's lying down – sometimes Sasuke envisions himself clad in white.

Bandaged, bruised, broken.

But then, sometimes Sasuke envisions times long past. He sees a girl with pink hair and sad green eyes, a boy with bright yellow hair and inquisitive blue that bore into him.

He also sees sunlight streaming through a window pane, golden light shining on the green foliage of the great trees surrounding the building.

So he knows, he knows that he must be dead and dreaming.

Because Konoha was gone, is gone, has been gone – destroyed, decimated, _annihilated_ for a long while.

He should know, he was there.

"_Sasuke…" the voice is despairing, full of long founded irritation, and fondness._

"_Teme, I expected to pull the Snake bastard out, but I never thought I'd pull myself in."_

He thinks he's gone insane. He's been hearing things; he's not sure if they're real or not, but the predominate voice sounds an awful lot like Naruto's (which is impossible…because Naruto is dead, right?)

"_Bastard, I'm real, you jerk. Just wait a while, alright? Your chakra coils are a mess"._

He also hears what he believes to be the Sandaime's voice. An old voice, gravelly, familiar, comforting but a _dead_ voice.

Then sometimes he thinks he sees ghosts. A golden haired child peering up at him curiously through unfamiliar innocent eyes. He knows for certain that this child _cannot_ be Naruto, because Naruto's eyes, though always filled hope and determination have never been innocent.

Furthermore…this child is…6, maybe 7.

And Sasuke is 18 while Naruto is dead.

Sasuke laughs again, insane, he thinks to himself wryly, I've gone insane.

"_Hah, bastard, you're not insane."_

Sasuke is no longer aware of anything. His world is a psychedelic mix of colors, time hazes and passes.

For all he knows, he may be dead.

"_You're not dead, teme. I won't let you." The voice is a bare whisper through his mind._

But if he's dead, then at least he has Naruto voice to keep him company, even if Naruto voice isn't real.

"_Teme…"_

_xxxxxxxxxxx_

The Sandaime isn't sure what to make of the strange ninja who had, quite literally, appeared from nowhere.

He sighed and looked over at the still body.

The man's eyes are half lidded, glazed and unseeing.

Sometimes it seemed as though the anonymous ninja would awake, the eyes would blink and sharpen only to fall back into sightlessness once more.

He wondered just what demons haunted this young man, that though oblivious to everything, the mouth still moved and spoke, still quirked in strange half-smiles and scowls.

He spoke of betrayal and carnage and oblivion.

All the medics concurred that the ninja had obviously been caught in a dangerous genjutsu of some sort.

Their diagnosis had been strange to say in the least. His chakra coils were bulging, full to nearly bursting.

It was a wonder the man wasn't dead, but strangely enough his own body seemed to be healing itself. Slowly, very slowly, blue chakra laced with red was slowly twining through the man's channels; reducing pressure, smoothing the bulges, gently integrating the overflow into the man's body.

The third Hokage sighed again, and shook his head as he gently left the room.

The ninja was obviously delusional, for Konoha was still standing strong, and little Naruto was quite alive.

-End-

(AN: It's really open ended...so I might write more. But no guarentees to when or even if I'll write though :) I need to see if anyone is interested first...)


	2. Night Time Visitation

A/N: Hopefully this clears up what happened in part 1 a bit...and please review? I've seen the number of hit Chapter 1 recieved, and it'd be nice if you could review. I'm not going to with-hold chapters or anything, but some sign of appreciation is nice. Thanks to everyone who reviewedPart 1.

Kudos to anyone who can figure out where the Story title is from ;)

Un-betaed and subject to change

Part 2

_Lately Sasuke has been feeling more alert, more awake, so when he finally opens his eyes he is both surprised...and not._

_He can't say he wasn't expecting to wake up, only, he hadn't expected to wake up lying upon the pavement of the abandoned Uchiha complex, nor had he expected to see his supposed-to-be-dead best friend directly, well, in his face so to speak._

_He blinked in stunned surprise before he managed to cover it up with his usual Uchiha coldness._

_"Naruto..." Sasuke quickly shuts his mouth and grits his teeth to cover his slip, "You died." He said flatly._

_Naruto looks at him, bemusement written across his scared face, "Not really, kinda, well sort of not really..."_

_Sasuke simply _looks_ at him. He doesn't care whether or not Naruto is dead or alive, what he really wanted to know was _why_ the dobe was_ in his head_ and whether he was a permanent fixture or not._

"_Explain_._"_

_Naruto flops down across from him, "It's like this. I pulled out Snake bastard, and got sucked in by your insanely mental mind-space -What is with that anyway? It was like a power vacuum - anyway...I am dead."_

_Sasuke stares at him blankly, quite clearly Naruto was _not_ dead otherwise Sasuke wouldn't be talking to him._

_Naruto sighs and points at himself, "I'm no Shikamaru," he admits grudgingly, "but I'll try to explain what I think. I currently don't have a body."_

_The still blank look (well, blank for an Uchiha in any case) he was receiving told Naruto he was doing a crap job explaining._

_"...I don't have a _physical_ body, teme. I'm made out of chakra now, like the Kyuubi was. Maybe something to do with Kyuubi's chakra integrated with mine." Naruto shrugs, "But whatever, I'm here. And I'm stuck."_

_A moment of silence, and then Naruto grins._

_Peals of laughter rang out through the hollow spaces of the haunted buildings._

_"Haha, you're the Jinchuuriki of a Jinchuuriki, Sasuke." a finger wags at him mischeiviously._

_Sasuke gapes in amazement at Naruto, what an utterly retarded and - so _Naruto_ like thing to say._

_He cannot help the smirk that quirks at his lips, "Hn, usurantonkatchi."_

_Naruto crosses his arms and nodds his head seriously, though mirth is still quite apparent in his eyes, "And you," he enunciated clearly, "call me an idiot."_

_Sasuke gives a snort, "You were an idiot, and you still are one. What kind of Shinobi uses a seal that gets him stuck inside another person? _Idiot_."_

_"Hmph, I didn't kill you did I? I call that intelligent..." Naruto's face took on a solemn expression, "Sasuke, when you wake up, don't do anything stupid alright? It's an opportunity, don't fuck it up, teme."_

_Sasuke looks at him, baffled, "Could you be any clearer, dobe?"_

_"Hehe, you'll find out when you wake up," __Naruto cackles, the laughter short and bright, "Okay, Sasuke-teme, time to wakey-wakey."_

_With a push and a shove, Sasuke has no time to voice his displeasure at being told what to do before he falls into a bright white light._

_-----_

And Sasuke's eyes fully open for the first time in what seems to be years, only to meet the gaze of another supposed-to-be-dead ninja (well, at least this one wasn't stuck in his head).

The Sandaime smiles at him congenially around his pipe, "Well, about time you woke up. We were getting quite worried."

Naruto's laughter rings in the back of his head as all Sasuke can do is stare.


	3. Second Chance

AN: Apologies for taking so long. This is the end of the introspection part from Sasuke's point of view. I'll move on to third person in the next parts.

Thank you for the alerts/favorites/reviews

--l--

**Chapter Summary:**

We find out just exactly when Sasuke and Naruto have been thrown into.

**Chapter Warnings:**

Foul Language.

--l--

Sasuke wants to laugh

Sasuke wants to laugh. Laugh, and laugh, and _laugh_ until the tears that run down from his face are masked and covered by hysteria.

Too late. Sasuke laughs again. He's always too damn late.

So now, all Sasuke wants to do is run. Run and run and run until he catches up to traitorous brother, to kill him and ask why.

He stops for a moment, his brother may have killed his family, he may have arrived in the past (_one fucking day_) too late to save his family...but...he could kill Itachi now. He could kill him, and he would have his revenge...

_You can't change the past, you know._

"Don't tell me what to do, if I want to, I will."

_Okay fine. But you shouldn't. Things happen for a reason, Sasuke._

Naruto's voice is frustrated, and Sasuke takes no little pleasure in that.

_It's too late, to save your family. They're already gone and Itachi has left._

This time the voice is blunt, kind in its cruelty. Sasuke can't help but resent Naruto for his understanding.

"Or your childhood. You can't save yourself here either."

_..._

Naruto is silent for a moment.

_I can't...and I'm not sure I want to. Nor do I want to change what happened...happens. Whatever happened between us, to change the future means to change our..._my_ friends. Maybe later I'll...we can try to change Konoha's future, before the war, before everything goes to hell...but right now, it's too late to change anything._

There is a distinct tang of irony and self-mocking in his mind, Sasuke notices as Naruto quiets.

_Maybe I've had too many 'what-if' conversations with Ero-sennin. But, let the future play out, Sasuke. To change it now would be pointless. What use does the world have for two versions of two people in this same time and place?_

Fuck that. Sasuke hisses, you said a 'second chance' Naruto. And where is it? Where is my second chance?

_And here I though _you _were the genius. Your second chance, asshole, is _time._ Get stronger, you have the time, you have _years_ worth of time. So when we get back to our time, you kill Itachi._

Sasuke chokes down the hysterical laughter. He's owed some hysteria, he thinks defiantly, he's been landed in the past with no way back but through time itself with his _annoying_ best friend - ex... his mind whispers, ex friend -

If the dobe was going to send them back in time, the least he could was stop Itachi (Although...somehow, deep inside, Sasuke can't quite bring himself to feel too resentful. He wants to bring down Itachi, and owing Naruto that revenge leaves a bad taste in his mouth).

_Stupid bastard, can't even have the decency to say 'Thanks'. Fine. Next time I spontaneously send us back in time I'll be _sure_ to calibrate it to the _precise_ time you want in the milli-billi-whatever-illionth of a second I have to think._

And the response is so..._ludicrous_ that Sasuke's chest seems to lift in relief. Obnoxious, spontaneous, _stupid_ Naruto he can deal with. But this new mature Naruto who seems to have invaded his mind and privacy? The whole idea is unsettling. Where did loud, obnoxious, and _stupid_ Naruto go? Where had this adult...mature Naruto come from? This one who put consequence before action, thought before reacting.

_Haha, Sasuke._

Sasuke wants nothing more then to punch the dobe's face (which he can't. Not without punching himself first, and even then it's doubtful the idiot would feel it anyway).

The mocking tones of Naruto's short barking laughter resonate in his mind.

_He grew up. A pity you weren't there to see it._


End file.
